2006-11-26

The Art of Staying in Debt

Yup... I paid off my car a few months ago and being 10 years old it is still a fine automobile. Probably can make it another 6-8 years (100,000 miles) without any problems. That's generaly how Honda automobiles roll.

The only issues I've ever had with it where replacing the breaks and getting regular oil changes. Doesn't get much easier than that, does it? Well good ol Honda extended their emissions control warranty to 15 years which meant my 1997 Accord was covered for another 5 years! As part of this extension they said my vehicle now qualifies for a free emissions check up and any parts related to emissions would be replaced free of charge. Free?!? If that's the hook then what is the catch? Well as it turns out nothing. They replaced my emissions control and such as well as my spark plugs, wires, distributor, rotor, oil and filter! The only down side was I had to wait for an hour and half or so... no prob I'm on vacation! Well I thought I'd take a stroll through the Honda lot while I waited, just for something to do. That's when I saw this goofy little cube of a vehicle. The Element. But funny thing with new goofy things. They grow on you over time. Well it took only 2 minutes of looking into it before I was won over. This was THE car/suv for me.

Yea, one day later after the holidays had come and gone I went back and took advantage of the holiday interest rate special they were providing. I had to act quickly before the conservative Gregory D woke up and dismissed this purchase. Though spontaneous fun loving Gregory D was ready to pounce with all sorts of logical points of argument if the need arose.

This thing is amazing! As if the design and functionality were thought of for me alone. The car itself is a bit wider but a lot shorter than my Accord was which makes it easy to fit inside my garage, parallel park and drive around. But even with its small footprint this thing has a ton of room for passengers and cargo. I can't figure out how they did it but I think it has something to do with quantum mechancis. It's not as peppy as my ol car but for a small suv it can get up to 26 mpg or so which to me is amazing.

Here you can see the clam-shell doors on both sides of the vehicle which open up to gain access to the back seats which are very very roomy. All fabric and flooring is stain/waterproof and is easy to clean.

The back seats can also recline at various levels and when all the seats recline you have a bed! Or once reclined you can take the back seats and swing them up against the sides for that imprompto move. The back has a huge skylight that can open or be removed entirely. The suspension and stance makes it drive more like a car than a top heavy SUV. It also has amazing saftey features that are setting the bar for all small SUV's.

Other fun little features include XM Radio/ Ipod ready/ soundsystem with 260watts of power including a subwoofer up front. Cool layout of dash and console with some groovy blue lights. Spare tire cover in back can be removed and doubles as a table top. And did I mention I love the way it looks? Yea so there you have it.